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Summary

Biography

The Octopus is a character from the Spirit comic-book series.

In his original incarnation, the Spirit’s super-criminal nemesis was never seen. Will Eisner rarely drew more of the Octopus than a pair of purple-gloved hands, and his real face remained a mystery throughout the many years of his career in crime.

First Appearance: The Spirit: "The Postage Stamp"

The Octopus is a character from the Spirit comic-book series.

In his original incarnation, the Spirit’s super-criminal nemesis was never seen. Will Eisner rarely drew more of the Octopus than a pair of purple-gloved hands, and his real face remained a mystery throughout the many years of his career in crime.

Instead, the Octopus showed the world any number of different faces, using his mastery of disguise as the cornerstone of a successful career in crime. He never failed to elude the Spirit, to say nothing of the police, despite a multitude of run-ins over the years.

The Octopus debuted in the 1946 comic strip “The Postage Stamp,” where a United Nations investigator hints that he’s a war criminal looking to make a move into the rackets. As it turns out, however, her account isn’t entirely trustworthy, leaving the origins of the Octopus a matter for speculation and debate. A later story suggested that he was once a petty criminal who was nearly killed in an accident at a power plant, but once again, events threw doubt on that story as well.

Frank Miller’s version of the character, re-created for the 2008 movie version, is a little different from the original. Played by Samuel L. Jackson, he shares the original Octopus’ taste for outlandish disguises (from a Nazi officer’s uniform to a Japanese samurai outfit), and wears gloves with the same distinctive pattern of squares on the back, but he doesn’t go so far as to keep his face permanently hidden.